His Name Was Tate

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"Alright, your all set." Dad said after applying the last bit of ointment for Tate.

"I thought you were just a chef, didn't know you had healing hands too?" Said Tim jokingly.

Dads face darkened a little but he tried his best to cover it, but everyone noticed. "Sadly, me and Nemo, have had too much practice patching up injuries." He said with a said smile while closing the first aid kit box.

Becks looked over at me with questions on her eyes and I just shook my head to tell her that now was not the time for questions. Dad pulled himself up and put in his usual happy smile. "I'm gonna start on dinner for you guys. We are have sloppy joes tonight. So how I you don't mind getting a little messy." He said with a smile and headed toward the kitchen.

"Kind of early for dinner, no?" He said.

"Well yeah, but my dad likes to do everything from scratch and prep the meal. So it's 2:45 now, dinner will probably be ready at 5, 5:30?" I said.

"Well I guess we're staying for dinner." Said Tate with a smile.

"Good. Cause I'm starving." Said Tim.

"Hey, Meloni?" Mike said.

"Yeah."

"You gotta place where me and your bestie here can talk in private?" He asked staring at the cowering Becks. She hadn't left my side since she been down in Mike presence. Good. She should be nervous. Mike might not be on the top of my list of straight and dandy, but he didn't deserve to be ditched like that. No one does, unless your a one night stand.

"Maybe we can talk another time, Mike. Right now is it really s good-" I cut her off immediately. Oh on she doesn't. She's talking to him now. Whether she likes it or not she clearly still have feelings for him and she needs to confront those feelings sooner rather than later. All she needs is a little push.

I push her towards him. "Upstairs, go to the den. She know where it is." I said. She looked at me with fury in her eyes and I just shrugged it off. She'll be fine.

"Good move." Said Tate from behind me.

"She gonna kill you later." Tim snickered as he began to move from his position.

"Yeah well. And where do you think your going?" I said as he began to fumble with the crutches my dad gave him.

"I'm gonna go see if your dad needs help in the kitchen or just keep him company." He said as he slowly began to rise. He struggled a little.

"You need help?" Tate said already next to him.

"I'm good. See you guys in a bit." And began to make his way to the kitchen leaving only Tate and me.

"So?" I said

"So?" He said

"So?" I said with a giggled. I tried my best to look him in his eyes but he was doing his best to avoid them. He was still sitting on the couch where he and Tim were sitting while I was standing where me and my dad were at while we were telling everyone the story. I moved my way over to him and sat down on the opposite end of the couch from him.

We sat in silence for a few more minutes and I was wondering why we were acting like this. We were completely fine the last time we talked. Amazing actually. Granted after the last time we talked I had a heart attack, but Becks said she didn't tell them why I was out of school.

"Hey Tate, why did you tell me not to go to the party?" I said. That was not what I wanted to ask. His head shot over to me with a surprised look. To be honest i was just as shocked.

"Thats what you wanted to talk about" he said questioningly. His eyes were finally on me. Those deep brown eyes always made me melt. I could feel my heart jumping in my heart. It made me go insane. I looked away and began breathing slowly. What time was it? I looked my phone and and saw that it was time for me to take my meds.

"Hey, I got to go upstairs to take my meds. Come with me?" I asked looking at him. He nodded hesitantly. He seemed reluctant at first but he quickly followed behind me. We made our way to the bathroom, he stood in the door frame while I began looking for the meds.

"Can you answer my question?" I said as I began to grab the thousands of pills I had to swallow. He stood next to me with his arms crossed over his chest making his arms flex involuntarily. He wore a short sleeve black shirt that allowed his bare arms to breathe. I looked up his arms and saw most of his tattoos on display. Good God. He was so hot. My eyes began to linger at his tattoos. I never really given them much attention, mostly cause they were either covered or I was too busy looking at his face. On his left arm he had a beautiful clock piece with a forest and then on the right there was a map with this wind looking design. I wanted to see the designs on his shoulders but they were covered by his short sleeve. I huffed. I would like to see the rest.

"Why do you wanna know?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Becks told me everything. And the only thing that didn't make sense was why you didn't want me to go to the party before you even knew what was going on?" I said as I began to focus on my hands and medication.

"Those types of parties aren't good for you. Drinks here, drugs there. On top of that, the guys here can't really hold there liquor, and you can't really handle yourself. It would just be better for you to stay home." He said. I couldn't help but giggle. He sounds like a worried brother.

"I would've had Becks with me." I said.

"So? Becks is a girl too. And though, she can fight, if she's been drinking or smoking then what? You don't even know how to drive, nor would you be able to handle that type of environment by yourself while babysitting." he said matter-of-factly.

"Why are you so worried?" I asked with a smirk. I was done forcing the pills down my throat and my full attention was now on Tate. My eyes were now on him. And this is the first time I could visibly see him blush.

Gotcha.